I think that we can all imagine stepping onto the moon. Possibly we could imagine going to Venus or Mars, but the sun? That is where we landed today on the fourth layer of Dante’s paradise.

I haven’t done the research but I find it interesting that when Dante went to the moon, he goes to great lengths to describe the ‘glassy’ surface. The topography of planet played heavily into the how the characters interreacted with Dante. As we go farther along in the journey, the more abstract the surroundings become.

There is barely a mention of being on the sun in four Cantos. When it is, it really is not clear where the characters really are. It is just the brilliance of the souls as a inference to the sun. In fact, the surface and interaction on each planet are more closely related to the Roman mythology than the are to the actual astronomy.

I know that this is written before the great scientific discoveries of the Renaissance. Dante’s theory about the planets and the sun rotating around the earth proves that they didn’t have all the data. It certainly predates anything but rudimentary optics. I suppose that it is fair to say that they just didn’t know much about the planets.

Not being Catholic, I am not well versed in many of the important figures. I have heard of some of the monastic orders, not well enough to name them all, let alone what the primary focus is about. Once again, this section is heavily influenced by the figures of Dante’s Catholic world.

The basic premise of this layer is Dante is met by one group. After they have made fun of one order, that order shows up to make fun of the former. I think this is part of the ‘divine comedy’ aspect of the work. I really didn’t get the jokes. Unlike a lot of this study, I at least recognized the overt attempt at comedy. For a lot of it, I suspect that you had to be there.

The first circle was led by Thomas Aquinas. There is a name that I have heard before. In fact, I have written a little bit in this series referencing him. Aquinas was a member of the Dominican order. Looking up their mission, they are focused on preaching, specifically against heresy. They use their spotlight to make fun of the Franciscan order.

Francis of Assisi was the founder of the Franciscan order. There focus was on a nomadic, evangelical mission. He and his group make fun of the Dominican order. Then, they get together an sing Dante and Beatrice off to Mars. If you are interested in Catholic politics, then this may be the level of Paradise for you.

I think what strikes me as a protestant is the cult of personality. I have no idea whether these people were creepers who happened to do something good or not. In fact, while I heavily disagree with the theology of the Catholic church, I won’t deny that the appearance of piety has my respect. I think that with all things a degree of critical thinking is necessary for goodness.

What I mean is that I am positive these orders have done many good things for the world. That being said, I highly suspect that they have been involved in some pretty bad things too. If we accept the fact that all men sin, that means even founders and followers do as well. Preaching, educating, helping the poor, trying to live like Jesus are all noble goals. I don’t foresee saking one approach over another is necessarily the end all be all.

That is not to say that I don’t respect the decision to join an order, all I said above applies. I just cannot concretely agree that one is better or worse than the other. We as believers need to be careful that we are not sucked into human hierarchy of better/worse and one right way.

End Your Programming Routine: Next week is one of the longer remaining sections. That would be Canto XIV – XVIII. Every since we have have been in Paradise, I just see technicolor weirdness. I guess my vision of eternity was always light, bright and serene. This seems manic and all over the place. It sure beats the alternative I guess but seems a little too surreal for me.